Fantasy Baseball: Thursday News and Notes

Kevin Youkilis left last night's game with what is described as "right ankle pain." Youkilis was seen stretching the injury out during the third inning of the game against the Rays and then could not complete his warm-up swings to lead off the next inning. The last thing the Red Sox can afford is another injury, so expect that he looks to play through the injury.

Ryan Franklin was as ugly pitching as his beard is normally. Franklin gave up six runs on six hits in the ninth inning. He gave up two home runs to boot. Technically, that was his first blown save in 16 opportunities, but it was done in spectacular fashion. Franklin did not allow just his own six runs to score but two inherited runners as well.

Jake Peavy left his start last night with a strained muscle in his back. Peavy was forced to exit in the second inning and will have an MRI today on the upper back and his arm. Ozzie Guillen did not completely speculate but did indicate that a stint on the DL was more than likely to let Peavy heal.

The score may not look it, but there was some good pitching in the Brewers game against the Giants last night. Madison Bumgarner will get the deserved accolades, as he went eight innings and allowed only three hits and three walks in the shutout effort. Randy Wolf had some rough defense behind him. He allowed just one earned run (five runs total) in seven innings on four hits and four walks. Wolf added eight strikeouts in the effort as well.

Jair Jurrjens may not have recorded the win last night, but he did have a strong second outing in his return from the DL. Jurrjens went six innings and allowed three runs on two hits and three walks. This was not a dominating performance, but both his recent outings have been much better than anything prior to his injury.

Wednesday Notes

Carl Crawford is a .306 hitter against Tim Wakefield with two home runs in over 80 at-bats. Carlos Pena is just 6-for-32, and B.J. Upton is only 5-for-24 against the knuckler. Wakefield continues to give up a fair number of hits, but he has managed to largely pitch effectively against the Rays. Not a bad spot start option in this one.

David Price is 5-1 at home this season with a 1.99 ERA inside the Trop. Batters are hitting only .190 against him at home. Not many numbers for the Red Sox against the lefty, but it probably suffices to say he may be able to handle some of the younger batters. If Youkilis plays, he is 4-for-6 against Price.

All-Star Omar Infante (read that again) is just 3-for-17 against Jamie Moyer, and only he and Yunel Escobar check in below .250 overall. The Braves have good numbers against the lefty. Troy Glaus should be back in the lineup, and he has 12 home runs in 60 at-bats, while both Brian McCann and Martin Prado are better than .360. You cannot miss with your Braves in this one.

Be careful with Kevin Slowey in this one. Slowey had his start pushed back to Wednesday because of an ankle injury suffered when he was hit by a ball in his last start. He was having one of his better outings of the season when this happened, having given up just one run over six innings. Still, batters are hitting .340 against him on the road this season.

Ryan Dempster continues to pitch solid baseball and should be able to continue to generate strikeouts against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. Dempster has 114 strikeouts in 117 innings, and Arizona is one of the easiest teams in baseball when it comes to going down by way of the K.

Joe Saunders has allowed three earned runs in his last 15 innings, covering two starts. Saunders is 4-2 on the road this season and has already managed to beat the White Sox once this season. He is now 4-1 against the White Sox in his last six starts against them overall. Even better, he is 3-0 in his last four starts at U.S. Cellular Field with a sub-1.70 ERA.

Jack Cust, Coco Crisp, and Mark Ellis have some ugly numbers against A.J. Burnett. Crisp and Cust are both 1-for-13. Ellis is only 4-for-19. Kurt Suzuki has been solid, going 4-for-12. Burnett finally had himself a good outing against Toronto last time out, and that did coincide with the return of pitching coach Dave Eiland. The numbers stack up here for a good start.

If you are a gambling type of owner, Kyle Davies did record a win in his only start against the Mariners this season. He worked six innings without allowing a run against them. He also worked into the eighth inning in his last outing against the Angels. Franklin Gutierrez is 8-for-14 against Davies, but Jack Wilson is on the other side at just 1-for-14.

Jon Garland has been better at home than on the road, but he did perform well in a start earlier this year against the Nationals. Garland gave up two runs in seven innings during that outing. He is just 4-4 on the road this season. Ivan Rodriguez should be on your bench with his 8-for-46 mark, and Adam Kennedy is only 7-for-30 against Garland.

Spot Starts: Saunders, Wakefield, Doug Fister

Thursday Notes

Roy Oswalt's 1-8 record at home looks ugly, but when you consider batters are only hitting .245 against him and he has a sub-4.00 ERA, you can see that the issues are more on offense and not in pitching. Oswalt has already recorded a win against the Pirates this season, and he is pitching too well to worry about the win aspect that is out of his control.

Franklin Gutierrez and Ichiro both have good numbers against Andy Pettitte. Gutierrez is 5-for-12 with a home run, while Ichiro has hit .389. Look to avoid the 5-for-23 of Jack Wilson and the 3-for-13 of Jose Lopez. Pettitte is 3-0 this season on the road with a 2.59 ERA.

Mark Kotsay is worth the start against Ervin Santana. Konerko is 10-for-24. Teammates Juan Pierre and Alex Rios are both hitting better than .350 against Santana and should be in your lineup as well. Look to avoid the 4-for-22 and 4-for-21 of Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski respectively in this one.

Scott Baker is 1-5 on the road this season with a 6.55 ERA away from home this season. He has given up 10 home runs in 45.2 innings of work on the road, and batters are hitting .325 against him. Baker had a good outing against Tampa Bay last time out, but it was another home outing.

The Padres are going to move Mat Latos back into the rotation over the next several weeks. He will get the ball in this one on Wednesday. The Padres are looking to control his innings in case they are in a pennant race during the latter half of the season. Latos is 5-2 on the road with a 2.93 ERA.